


A Whole Ocean and I Want YOU

by Dedmemes



Series: I Want YOU series [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:41:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22397245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dedmemes/pseuds/Dedmemes
Summary: Sequel to I Want YOU that I promised months ago!Omega Keith and Alpha Lance are in space now and they have a few things they still have not talked about. Keith still believes Lance would never be interested in him while our lovable blue boy believes Keith is way too independent to want to settle down with an Alpha, much less one like him.Reading I Want YOU is recommended so you can understand everything that goes on in here but you could still understand this without reading that first.
Series: I Want YOU series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1385686
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	A Whole Ocean and I Want YOU

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if anyone is even interested in this anymore other than me but here it is! *Jazz hands*  
> I hope you'll enjoy this and sorry about the long break I took before posting this. I've had this chapter written for a while but I hadn't posted it cause I was busy. I've had a lot on my plate since school started with the billion AP classes and clubs I'm in but I've tried to write as much as I could. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!

“That’s cheating!” 

“Lance, it’s not cheating if I’m stronger” Keith tried to reason with Lance and make peace by offering him a hand to help him stand up. Lance, however, was not having it. He stayed on the floor and pouted. “Laannceee, don’t be childish. It’s not befitting of a paladin of Voltron” 

“I’m not childish. And I can stand on my own.” and that was what he did. He stood up and walked to the bench by the wall of the room. 

They were training together like they had taken up the habit of doing. Keith had actually mustered up the courage of asking Lance a couple of months ago and, surprisingly, Lance had agreed. 

They usually train together at least once per week and if Keith was being honest, that was his favorite time of the week. It made his individual training dull and boring because it was without Lance. 

He didn’t have Lance’s banter and laughter, even the childish fits he threw when Keith beat him in hand to hand combat were fun. Keith missed Lance when he was training alone and he wanted to ask the other boy to train with him more often because these weekly training sessions just weren’t doing it for him anymore. 

He needed more. 

He sometimes wondered if this was what it felt like to be a drug addict, to be constantly craving  _ more _ . When he had nothing he wanted something, and now that he has something, he wants more. 

He blamed Lance for this, he was too addictive and Keith was weak for him. 

“Are you mad you lost against weak little omega me for the third time in a row. Don’t tell me your alpha was insulted?” he knew that wasn’t the case. Lance really wasn’t like all the alphas who got insulted when Keith even looked at their eyes. Like he wasn’t allowed to have a personality just because of his secondary gender. 

“Calling you weak just insults me even more. I did not lose three times, just two. You cheated the last time.” Lance poked his tongue out at him like the twelve-year-old he was inside. “And my alpha does not get insulted” 

“What are you? Twelve?” but of course, Keith poked his own tongue out at him. He wouldn’t be Keith otherwise. 

“On a scale of one to ten” god he was childish. Keith was smiling so much that his cheeks hurt. 

“Are you ready to go another round?” That came out more suggestive than he intended.

“Yep, but I’m not losing a third time, mullet” bless Lance and his oblivious personality. 

“Fourth time” 

“Cheating is not winning!” 

“It wasn’t chea—”

“Paladins! It’s great to see you training and getting along” the last but was directed at Keith with a sly wink and smirk. 

“Allura, looking gorgeous as always” Lance’s voice stopped the blush that was crawling up Keith’s cheeks. 

“Oh, Lance, you flatter me” the altean's voice was full of sarcasm but if Lance recognized it he didn’t show. 

“Must be because there’s lots to complement” another wink. “Do you need something or did you come here just to see me?” and finger guns. 

Keith tried not to feel jealous of the fact that all Allura had to do was walk into a room and she stole all of Keith’s hard-earned attention of Lance. It’s not like it was her fault that Lance was attracted to her. It was nobody’s fault, neither Lance nor Keith could help to who they were attracted to. 

Still, Keith wished he didn’t have to watch as Lance fawned over Allura. 

“Do you need something, Allura?” his voice was distant and he hated it. Allura was his friend and she didn’t deserve to be put on the wrong side of Keith’s anger just because his crush liked her. 

“Yes, we received a message from the Blade of Marmora. It’s for you, Keith” a message probably meant that there was a mission he had to go on. 

He’d started to go on more and more missions ever since Shiro returned to them. He wanted to know more about his own heritage and figured it was a good way to do it. He got to interact with more Galras and observe how they worked. Keith  _ wanted _ to do it (he  _ did _ ) but so far, he hadn’t really liked what he’d seen. 

The Blade members all gave him one-word answers and ignored him. They really didn’t give a shit about him and they constantly underestimated him because of his heritage. He was the shortest and smallest member and he constantly had to look up to the others. 

He was also one of the only omegas. 

Most of them were betas or alphas and they constantly tried to coddle Keith because of it. Apparently, in Galrani culture omegas were meant to look pretty and let themselves be taken care of by an alpha. They weren’t meant to fight or be in a battlefield. They were similar to humans like that, except that humans had evolved to a more progressive thought process.

Keith hated it. If he was honest, he hated going on missions for the Blade too. He really wasn’t learning things about Glaran culture that he couldn’t have learned somewhere else. It’s just—

Lance had come talk to him and he was insecure and he’d confided in Keith. He’d told Lance to leave the math to Pidge, implying that everything was going to solve itself out. Keith was simply making sure that he wasn’t made a liar. He was making sure that everything worked itself out. 

With him gone Lance would be able to completely take Red and Allura would be able to stay on Blue. Hopefully, Black would soon accept Shiro back and then everything would be perfect. 

Lance thought that he was replaceable, that he was the seventh wheel; the extra paladin. The truth was that it was Keith, he was the one that could be replaced easily. Shiro was a better leader than he could ever hope to be and Lance bonded with Red more easily than him. The crew was complete without him. Voltron was complete without him. 

It hurt that he wasn’t needed. He couldn’t bring himself to regret it though. Not when Lance looked happy and his doubts were dissipating. It was hard to be sad when he was faced with Lance’s happiness. He loved Lance too much to ever want to see him depressed again. 

Lance was worth too much to him. He was the only alpha Keith had ever ached for. The only one his omega had paid attention to. It didn’t matter that the alpha was looking at others because his omega told him that Lance was  _ his _ alpha. That they were mates. 

He didn’t like to place too much thought into things like destiny or fate but he really thought that they were meant to be together. 

***

It turned out that it wasn’t a mission. Just Bolivian calling to brief them about an earlier mission and give them more information. 

Keith gave a sigh of relief at the fact that he wasn’t going to be made to go away from his team again. He really didn’t want to go on more missions. He didn’t want to be away from his pack. 

“Keith? Are you okay?” Keith looked up from where he was staring at his shoes and saw that Shiro had a concerned look on his face. He looked around the room, there was no one else in the room. How long had he zoned out for? 

“Where is everyone?” 

“Kolivian gave us more information about the planet we’re visiting tomorrow. Allura said we should go to rest so we’re ready” 

The planet they were visiting was called Calzamin. They were some of the most well-connected planets in the galaxy they were currently traveling through. If they joined the coalition it would greatly influence the tide of this war. 

Allura and Shiro wanted to pay them a visit and try to make them join the coalition and warn them about the Galra roaming around the galaxy. The only thing about them that was different was that they were some o the only people that didn’t have a secondary sex. They also didn’t seem to have a primary sex either. They were mostly unisex, at least based on the information Allura and Coran had. 

Keith thought it was weird and strange to think about someone not having a secondary sex. It was also kind of nice though. They didn’t have to worry about being judged based on if they were an omega, beta, or alpha. They proved themselves based on their abilities and hard work.

It sounded strange, albeit he thinks that it would be something he would want. 

He was still confused about how exactly they reproduced but nobody had asked and he didn’t want to be the one to do it. 

“What are we going to do tomorrow?” Allura hadn't really explained the specifics of the mission, or maybe she and Keith had just zoned out. 

“Apparently we’re going to go down there without lions and speak to the royals, make them trust us and join the coalition” Shiro was making it sound too easy. None of the missions they had ever ended up being as easy as they originally sounded. It was like a contract; they only read the big parts while the small prints came back to bite them in the ass later. 

“There’s no way it’ll actually be that easy. With our luck, their civilization probably evolved into one that cannibalistic and we’ll have to try and fight to avoid being turned into dinner or something” It was meant to be a joke but it was possible considering once they got stuck on a planet where the population was short and refused to look up at the paladins so they demanded they cut off their legs. 

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. As long as these people don’t have some kind of prejudice against Voltron or us” and that was that apparently considering Shiro turned around and walked out. 

Keith was about to follow behind him but instead went to the kitchen to get a snack before bed. He really wasn’t tired and considered going to the training deck before deciding it properly wouldn’t be the best decision. Training before a mission would get him a lecture from Lance, Shiro, and Allura. 

He was better of just going to sleep after his snack and resting properly in preparation for tomorrow. 

***

The morning after he thanked himself for not going to train because something that Shiro had neglected to tell him was that they would be up by the equivalent of five am on their regular sleep schedule. If he’d actually trained then he would have been exhausted right about now. 

Even a good night’s sleep isn't enough to make him look fully rested though because Lance still commented on his appearance. “Hey, Keith, are you okay? You look tired” 

He was surprised that Lance even noticed his appearance, “I’m fine, just a bit tired” and he  _ was _ just tired, his body was a bit achy too. It was probably from training with Lance yesterday, it did take more energy than normal considering he had to pay extra focused on how he behaved himself. 

“Are you sure? If you don’t feel well maybe you should go to the med bay for some medicine first. Wouldn’t want you to introduce some kind of new illness to the people of this planet” his voice was teasing and it made Keith feel warm inside. If Lance was teasing him that meant he felt comfortable enough to tease him and also care about him, it meant they were close. 

How Keith had managed to get this perfect alpha to feel something other than indifference towards him like in the Garrison was a complete mystery. 

“Don’t worry about it, Lance, I feel fine. I promise that my stubbornness isn’t going to introduce some new kind of illness to these people” he tried to reassure Lance with an equally teasing tone and he hoped he’d succeeded. 

Lance still looked a bit unsure but gave him a nod and a pat on the back before turning back to face the front. 

Keith jerked and resisted a hiss, the place where Lance touched  _ burned. _ He felt the imprint of Lance’s handprint on his back long after Lance had turned away from him. 

He couldn’t explain why he felt so weird, there was something about the sensation that irked him though and he just didn’t know  _ why _ . He felt sick, maybe he had caught a bug somewhere else. They  _ had _ been on a planet with a big forest, maybe it had somehow affected him and caused some kind of space illness. 

He just hoped it wouldn’t somehow affect the people from the planet. 

He saw that Allura also looked mildly uncomfortable, as uncomfortable a princess focused on diplomacy could look. Could she have the same thing he did? Was it an omega thing? 

He didn’t know if he should ask since the rest of the team was literally right there in the pod with them and would most likely overhear. Would she be comfortable even talking about how she felt?  _ Was he? _ If he really thought about it, he didn’t want to talk about how she was feeling and make someone worry over nothing. 

Just as he was hyping himself up to do something Coran’s voice sounded on the intercom saying that they had arrived. 

“Are you all ready? Seems there are many Calzaminians ready to welcome us already,” Keith thought he sounded too casual for something that was a potential threat. Thos Calzaminians could be hostile towards them. 

“Do we need to worry about them?” looks like Shiro was having the same thought process as him. 

“They don’t seem to have any kind of weapons but it’d be good to be on your guard” Coran’s voice rang out from the intercom seconds before Keith felt a thump that signaled they had landed. 

One by one, all the paladins and Allura walked out of their pod and came face to face with a small crowd of tall aliens. They looked a little different than the pictures Allura had shown them but Keith figured it was all due to the fact that ten thousand years had passed since those pictures had been taken. 

The people looked relatively humanoid. Except for the fact that they were all bald and had markings on their skin. They also had only four fingers (it kind of creeped Keith out) and their eyes were big and all black with a red slit in the middle. They really did look androgynous though, there were no defining features that would make one think they were male or female. He lightly scented the air around them and could only smell his other paladins and Allura and Coran. They really didn’t seem to have any kind of sexes. 

“Are you the paladins of Voltron?” the one that was holding a staff seemed to be the leader since she was the one that spoke to them. 

“Yes, that would be us. We would like to talk to your leaders. I believe that we sent a message about our arrival here” Shiro was the one that answered them when all the other paladins and even Allura stayed silent. 

“Yes, we did receive your message. Our ruler has been expecting you,” seems like that was enough talking, the leader of the crowd turned around and started walking in the direction of a city with the others following behind. The team gave a glance towards one another before they too started following behind the people. 

Keith looked away from the crown in front of them to take in their surroundings. The planet was beautiful if a little desolate. There were buildings Keith assumed were houses in neat lines, they had no color or decorations to them though. Everything was the same and he thought back to pictures of suburban homes in the 1950’s he’d seem once in a textbook. 

It was kind of freaky. 

The people around them didn’t look too different, other than for them clothing, to the ones guiding them. The crown leading them to the castle were wearing white tunics with gold embroidered on the top and green pants. The people around them, however, were wearing plain white tunics with different colored bottoms. Most people looked similar and the only thing that differentiated them was the marking on their heads.

Some people had swirls, others had lines, there were some people with bubbles and others that had no real shape. People’s marks were different colors and, as Keith looked more closely, were moving. 

“Are the marks on their heads moving?” Lance’s question was whispered into his ear and he had to resist a shiver, both at the puff of warm air breathed into his skin and at the sudden closeness of his ocean breeze scent. 

“I think so,” his voice was equally as soft when he whispered his answered back to lance but it seemed that one of the guides caught wind of it.

“You are right, paladin. Our bo’un or as you called them, head markings as you called them do move around. They are affected by the environment around us and the emotions of the people in it,”

Lance did a little jump at the surprise of being caught but he recovered quickly enough. “Does that mean that you can read minds,” he looked a little frightened by the realization and Keith wondered why. 

The alien talking to them gave a short, breathy sound that Keith assumed was supposed to be a laugh and responded, “No, we can’t read minds we can only feel what others feel. Our bo'un reflect those feelings based on how we feel”

Lance looked more relieved at the realization that they couldn’t actually read his mind but after a short glance at Keith he rushed on ahead. Keith tried not to feel too put off by the fact that Lance didn’t want to be around him since he risked the alien guide knowing what he was feeling and gave a tight-lipped smile before following quietly again. The alien seemed to catch on to the fact that he no longer felt like taking and also moved ahead to the rest of the guides. 

Shiro gave him a look that screamed ‘be nice’ but he pretended not to notice. 

***

The castle was beautiful. It was also sad. There was no life to it, nothing that said ‘this place matters’ other than the intricate beauty only a royal palace was capable of. 

Their guides waltzed right in like they owned the place and Keith wondered just how important they actually were. He figured they were some kind of diplomats of nobles considering they looked more formal than others and were respected but they hadn’t really given an introduction of themselves. 

They walked into a giant room that was as luxurious as everything else in the palace and that had a giant throne in the middle of the room. The throne was tall and deep green, a stark contrast to the pale colors of the rest of the planet. Sitting on that deep green throne was another alien that looked just like the rest of them. The only difference was that his markings seemed to be frozen in time. 

Everyone else’s marking made slight movements, a little shift here, a little merging there, nut the king had nothing. No shifting or movements of any kind. Keith wondered if he could still feel connected to the emotions the way their guide said they could or if he didn’t feel anything. He also wondered how it was possible if they could choose not to feel anything why would the rest of the citizens decide to keep them?

“Hello, Voltron. I received a message that you all wanted to meet with me” The king was dressed in purple and white with green embroidery in his clothes. 

“Hello, your majesty, we have indeed sent a message about a meeting. We, like Voltron, wish to form an alliance with this planet” Allura was a diplomatic as ever even with the slight sheen of sweat forming on her forehead. 

“An alliance you say? How would that benefit my planet? The Galra have never been a problem for us and I do not see how that would help is in any way.” Keith was annoyed at how nonchalant this king was about the Galra. Just because they’ve never been a problem doesn't mean they never will be. 

“An alliance would be a way to show that our forces are united. The Galra are unpredictable and there is no telling what they’ll do. It’s possible that they could come here and attack at the most unexpected moment” Allura wasn’t just going to give up it seemed. 

Keith felt tired and soon he’d zoned out from the conversation. His contribution isn't needed right now since Shiro was here anyway. He may pilot the Black lion but he was not Voltron’s true leader. 

***

The alliance talk had gone on for longer than Keith first expected and Keith’s feet were tired and achy from standing. They had managed to convince the king that an alliance was what they needed and, in the end, the king decided to throw a party in their honor. A party that was sent for later in the day and Keith wanted to die. 

His body felt sore and, for some reason, it felt familiar. He couldn’t place it from where but he knew that he’d felt like this before. The soreness made him want to lie down and just sleep until he can wake up and feel refreshed once again. 

The party came sooner than expected. In fact, if he hadn’t lived through all the uncomfortable fittings and outfit, changes he would say that he hadn’t even lived it. 

He was standing next to the rest of the team in the middle of a grand hall where the party had been scheduled to be put. He was wearing an outfit he could only describe as uncomfortable and itchy while feeling like gravity was increasing on him by the second. 

A glance around the team showed that Allura also looked a bit feverish and he noticed that her scent was a bit sweeter. A thought entered the back of his mind about what this could be but it left before he could get a good grasp on it. 

The king made his way over to them and Keith forced himself to put on his most diplomatic expression he could muster at the moment. It ended up looking like what Lance called his ‘less than usual grumpy face’ but he took it as a win. 

The party started and Allura and Shiro gave them a look that said ‘be social and diplomatic’. Lance immediately got to work on following their orders and struck up a conversation with the aliens of the planet. The rest of the team was quick to follow, ell exit Keith. He couldn’t find something to talk about with any of these people which made it difficult to talk to them. 

All he found himself doing was leaning on the wall for support near the food tables because he was suddenly craving all kinds of sweets. He swore that this feeling felt familiar but he  _ just couldn't place it _ . It was annoying and he was even more annoyed when he saw one of the aliens start to approach him. 

They looked just like all the other aliens except for their head markings on their heads. They were twisting around each other. All of them twirling and fitting against the other like puzzle pieces. They were also changing colors, ranging from blue to purple and back to blue. The more he stared the more the color remained him of Lance’s eyes. 

In fact, if he didn't think it wasn’t possible, he would say that the marking was specifically changing to  _ that _ color. He was going crazy. 

“Black paladin?” the alien was close to him and their voice helped draw out Keith from where he was focused on staring at their head. A flush came to his face from embarrassment out of being caught staring. 

“H-hello” he didn't like being called the black paladin but he figured a stranger wouldn’t really want to head about his own insecurities so he stayed quiet. 

“Are you feeling alright? I sensed your feelings to be in turmoil” 

Keith stared blankly at them for a few seconds before it dawned on him that these people could sense his feelings. “In turmoil?” what the fuck did that even mean? He didn’t really feel different than normal. 

“I can feel how much you want your mate, the blue paladin, correct? We don’t really use that kind of term here but we’ve heard them being used before” the alien went on about how they thought it was interesting how others used other terms for partners. All the while, Keith was caught up on the fact that they’d referred to Lance as his mate. 

His face was flushing steadily and there was nothing and there was nothing Keith could do to stop the red from spreading up his cheeks. “We’re not- not m-mates. Just teammates and friends” the omega in him rebelled against him as he said the words but it’s not like he was lying. Lance  _ really _ was just a friend and teammate. 

The alien looked shocked, “but I can feel the strong emotions of love and lust coming off from you—”

A small whimper came out of him before he could suppress it. The alien looked at him alarmed that he’d made such a noise before backing away a few steps. 

“Are you okay, Red Paladin?” the alien looked curious now and Keith wondered ‘was he okay?’

He wanted to answer but thinking about Lance made sudden heat rush through him. “Excuse me, I have to leave” Allura would probably scold him for being rude to their allies but right now he didn’t care. He had to get out of here. 

The sound of laughter brought him back in just as he was about to walk out the door. It sounded like bells, like melodies playing out in the middle of a peaceful evening. Keith turned around and his eyes were assaulted with Lance. As he stared at the tanned buy he got the urge to be near him. He couldn’t explain it, but right now he  _ needed _ to be near Lance. 

It didn’t even matter that Lance was surrounded by aliens laughing at whatever funny joke he must have made at the time because everything in him was screaming at him to be near the alpha. He needed to be near  _ his _ alpha. 

He kept walking without faltering until he got near enough to catch a whiff of Lance’s ocean scent. It paralyzed him to the ground long enough for Lance’s group of friends to notice him and stop laughing. One of them, a really pretty one with glittering eyes and long, flowing hair, touched Lance’s hand to get his attention and point to where Keith was standing. 

Keith’s eyes trailed the moment of the girl’s hand, from where her hand moved all the way to where she wrinkled Lance’s suit with the two fingers that were twisting it. He had to bite back a sharp snarl and a glare.  _ Don’t touch him. He’s mine. _

The dark thoughts left him quickly when he sensed the ocean coming closer to him and  _ touching _ him. “Keith are you okay? You’re kind of red, do you have a fever—” whatever Lance was going to say was cut off by Keith literally throwing himself at Lance. 

Keith buried his neck in Lance’s neck where his scent was the strongest and he  _ breathed _ . He felt something wet flow down his thighs and a thought struck him.

He was in heat.

_ He was in heat.  _

**_He was in heat!_ **

“L-Lance— please—” Lance gripped his waist and he couldn’t hold back a whimper. He risked a look at the alpha and saw that Lance’s eyes were entirely focused on his neck so he turned his head to the side to allow his alpha a better view. 

Another moan escaped his throat when Lance suddenly stuck his nose right in his neck and he felt his knees give out. Distantly, he thought about how they were in front of so many people and he thought he heard a voice calling out for him but he couldn’t really focus with his alpha so close to him. His omega was jumping up and down with pure joy. 

That joy turned to panic as the arms encircling him and the warmth all around him were inexplicably ripped away from him. His own arms came out in front of him in an attempt to grab on to Lance. In panic, he started shaking his head around as he felt tears escape his eyes and saw that Lance was being held back by a struggling Hunk. He was being pulled back from Lance.

“Shiro! Let me go!” his screaming fell on deaf ears since Shiro proceeded to throw him over one shoulder with one hand and grab Allura who, Keith observed, seemed to have also entered her heat, and  _ sprinted. _ He banged on Shiro’s back to put him down so he could go back to Lance but the black paladin didn’t even acknowledge him. 

He saw that Lance was still struggling against Hunk but now he seemed less passionate about it, his eyes were clearing up and he eventually fell against the bigger boy. 

“Shiro!” Keith started sobbing and hitting Shiro’s back with more strength. “Let me go! I want Lance” He extended his hands as if to pull Lance against him when he felt himself being laid down on the Black lion’s cockpit. He immediately tried to sprint out and back to Lance but the hatch closed on his face. 

Shiro started flying back to the castle muttering about heats starting out of nowhere and about what a political mess this was. He called Coran who’d stayed back at the castle and frantically started trying to explain the situation. 

“Keith— Shiro, where are we?” Keith had completely forgotten about Allura since she hadn’t been talking or making any noise but now Keith saw her. She was blushing bright red was panting heavily. 

“We’re on our way back to the castle, princess. Seems like both of your heats started out of nowhere” Shiro sounded way to unaffected and Keith realized that it was because he already had a mate. He hadn’t even thought about how Shiro had lost his mate when he left Earth until now but he couldn’t even focus on that because he wanted Lance. 

“Our heat? So that’s why I’d been feeling off all day” Allura sounded far away, like she was focused on something far away. 

“No offense, princess, but you really should have said something. It would have avoided the mess we’re in right now” They landed on the castle floors just as Shiro finished his sentence.

“Maybe next time,” Allura said everything so casually Keith felt like he was the only one who wasn’t completely calm about the not calm situation right now

Was his body the only one that felt like it was melting from the inside out? He wanted to ask Allura but he was struggling to try and think of anything that wasn't Lance. 

“Shiro, get Allura and Keith out of there and we can put them in their respective rooms. Number three has joined us in collecting provisions that they’ll need and is placing them in the rooms as we speak” Keith distantly heard Shiro’s response and then felt himself being lifted again but after that, his body gave in to the heat and blanked out. 

***

He came to a while later to immeasurable pain in his abdomen and a burning heat in his chest. 

The events of the party came crashing back to him in a moment of clarity and he cringed over how embarrassing he’d behaved in front of Lance. 

The mere thought of Lance made another wave of heat rolled over him, and suddenly his clothes felt too restricting. Along with the heat came another feeling, one that was painful and made him want to shrivel up in his bed.

This was the first heat he’d had in literal years, no wonder the pain was so strong. The suppressants he’d stolen from the Garrison seemed to have finally worn off. With all the fighting going on he’d completely forgotten that he needed a constant shot or pill to keep his heats in control. 

Now it was too late since it had already started and there was no way he was gonna be able to go through it all alone. It would be maddening, he needed someone to make sure he ate and take care of him. He always hated how vulnerable his heats made him but he’d always managed to go through them alone without additional help. 

He could already tell this one was different and it hadn’t even started full-on yet. 

He tried to avoid thinking about it but there was only one person on the ship he would be willing to trust to spend this time with him. Would Lance even want to be with him, though? He knew that Allura was also going through her heat, what if she also needed someone since technically it’s her first one in ten thousand years. 

Lance has always like the princess better than him. If they both needed him, who would Lance choose? Did he really want to know?

The door opened and in walked Shiro, looking relieved at the fact that Keith was awake and lucid enough to respond to sounds. “How are you feeling?” 

“Like my heat is going to kill me.” he saw Shiro give a sympathetic wince at him before he deposited all the clothes he was carrying on the bed. 

“Thought these would help you. They’re clothes from everyone on the ship, also some extra blankets and pillows” Keith jumped up to look through the mountain of cloth Shiro had deposited on the bed before he’d even registered. 

Lying towards the bottom of the pile was a familiar green jacket that was on his hands milliseconds after he spotted it in the pile. He didn’t register that Shiro was still there until he spoke, “are you gonna need someone?” the question was quiet but the only other sound in the room was Keith’s loud breathing. 

He put the jacket on his lap before answering, without even looking at Shiro, “I think so, my heat hasn’t even started yet and I can already feel it’s gonna be painful” 

Shiro didn’t respond, he already knew Keith would only accept that help from Lance before any of their other teammates. “You should tell him” 

Keith pretended he didn’t hear Shiro because, in his opinion, that statement didn’t even need a response. Confess to Lance? And what, get rejected before having the worst heat he’d ever had? No thanks. Keith felt perfectly comfortable not confessing to Lance. 

Just as the thought of never confessing to Lance crossed his mind another cramp overtook his abdomen and he curled in on himself in pain. His face scrunched up in pure agony and he twisted in the bed as Shiro attempted to comfort him with reassuring pats. 

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but, Keith, you need help. I can’t stand here and watch you suffer like this without trying to help” before Keith could even ask what he meant, Shiro started digging through the bottle in his hands. “This is a birth control pill, or at least the Altean equivalent of one. Take this just in case, I’ll go call Lance” 

With that, Shiro walked out of the room like what he’d just done was nothing. Keith started to stand up in an attempt to stop him but he got dizzy from standing up too fast. 

He looked at the innocent, clear-ish pill on his hand and at the water pouch lying on his nightstand. He figured that if Lance, for some reason, agreed to come and help him out it was better to be safe than to be sorry. If Lance came to help him it would be a one-time thing and Keith getting pregnant would most certainly make that into something they both didn't need.

He took the pill and laid back down on the bed, waiting for Shiro to come back and tell him that Lance had said that he would rather let Keith suffer than come help him. Especially when there was a possibility the girl of his dreams could also ask for someone to help her. 

Just as he was starting to doze off the door opened with a whoosh. The scent of the ocean breeze immediately registered in his mind which caused him to let out an involuntary moan at the feeling of slick running down his thighs. 

“Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?” did Lance’s voice sound soft or was that just Keith being a wishful thinker? He felt the bed dip a little from added weight and fingers started carding through his hair “Shiro said this was your first heat in a while” 

Keith wanted to respond, to let Lance know that he was listening and paying attention to him, but when he opened his mouth all he could do was sit there. All the words he might have wanted to respond to Lance with left his body so quickly Keith had to wonder if they ever existed. Instead, he closed his mouth and nuzzled into Lance’s side. 

Those deft fingers of his were doing things to Keith. His gay, chicken heart was not made to withstand this kind of attention from the alpha he’d been basically in love with since they were thirteen. 

“Lance, you should leave” if he didn’t leave while Keith was still self-aware then he would not be able to leave later when Keith would not be aware of what he would do. 

Instead of taking his advice, Lance just looked at him with a small smile and twisted his fingers in the ends of Keith’s hair. “If you want me to leave because you feel his is an invasion of your privacy and you don’t consent to doing anything with me, then I’ll leave. But, if this is because you are being prideful and don’t want others to see you vulnerable, I’ll stay. We don’t even have to do anything sexual, and if we do, it doesn’t have to mean anything. Okay?” 

The last sentence killed something inside of him. When Lance walked in he wasn’t expecting the other boy to confess to be in love with him but still. He hadn’t seen the whole this as just meaning nothing. 

Another cramp hit him and he curled in on himself. Lance immediately started to card his fingers through his hair with more intensity and he couldn’t help but give a contented purr. Lance’s hand froze which caused Keith to look up at his with a questioning stare. 

“Did— did you just purr?!” When Lance asked that Keith realized that he  _ had _ just purred. 

“I guess?” Lance gave a laugh at the bewilderment on his face and his fingers started twisting themselves in his hair again. 

“It’s cute” Keith’s face was red for something other than his heat for the first time that day and he struggled to hide it from Lance. “Keith, is your heat getting worse. Your face got all red suddenly” Lance brought their foreheads together to compare temperatures and Keith stopped breathing. 

He could see that brown skin he had for so long admired only from afar right in front of his face. Any words he might’ve had to answer Lance got stuck in his throat. “I don’t want to pressure you but you have to make a decision about what you want me to do” 

Keith went silent again and thought if he let lance stay he would be able to indulge himself in all of Lance’s affection. On the other hand, if he chose for Lance not to stay, then he would have to suffer through his heat alone. This might be his only chance to ever experience how it would feel if Lance loved him. 

“Please… stay” his whisper was so quiet Keith wondered if Lance had even heard him. 

His plead was answered when Lance lay back on the bed next to him and carded his fingers to his hair again. 

He forced himself to say one last thing before he gave in to the pleasurable buzz beneath his skin “I want you to help me. As you said, it doesn’t have to mean anything. This is just because I need help and you’re here. It’s not like I can ask anyone else for help either so…” He had to remind himself that this was just for convenience. 

They were teammates, barely friends. Lance was just doing this because he was a naturally good person who couldn’t let Keith suffer if he could help it. He just had to keep in mind that his feelings were not reciprocated. Lance was not going to love him back and he couldn’t ruin his only chance at ever getting some kind of affection from Lance. 

“Of course. Just know that if at any point you feel uncomfortable or don’t want me to do something, please tell me. I know that your heat will mess with you but you’re stronger than anything” Lance sounded so confident in what he was saying Keith couldn’t help but laugh.

“Even biology?” 

“Even biology” 

Keith gave a laugh and laid down on his bed, drifted off to sleep in Lance’s hold under his deft fingers twisting themselves in the hair insisted he hated. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!!  
> If you liked this please drop a like and comment about your thoughts. 
> 
> I don't know when the next chapter will be up but I hope it's soon.


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